The Pittsburgh Penguins traded Jack St. Ivany to the Winnipeg Jets on Monday and brought back David Gustafsson, a move that shifts one of their depth pieces just two days before the NHL free agent frenzy. The deal gives the Penguins a defensive-minded center while sending out a right-handed defenseman who had been carving out a place on the blue line.
David Gustafsson is the kind of player teams usually add when they want steadiness more than flash. He has played 149 NHL games, scored six goals and put up 20 points, with a career high of 46 games in 2022-23. Winnipeg took him in the second round in 2018, and he had been a frequent healthy scratch there, which is part of why the Penguins could see a real opening for him in a new setting.
That opening matters now because Pittsburgh did not make this move in a vacuum. Kyle Dubas moved St. Ivany out just two days before the NHL free agent frenzy, and the trade immediately changes the mix on the roster. The Penguins now have a center who is more of a defensive specialist, and they also have one less right-handed defenseman listed after the deal, with Erik Karlsson, Kris Letang and Harrison Brunicke still the only right-shot options named.
St. Ivany’s side of the swap is harder to ignore because he had shown enough to look like an NHL defenseman, then still became the player Pittsburgh was willing to deal. He signed with the Penguins as a college free agent out of Boston College in 2022 and reached 53 games of NHL experience, but last season was interrupted by a lower-body injury that cost him the first 28 games. He returned in December, later had hand surgery after blocking a shot on Jan. 26 and came back in mid-March, only to fail to win back his place on the third pairing.
The trade is also not the end of Gustafsson’s move, because Pittsburgh tendered him a qualifying offer after the announcement. He is a restricted free agent and arbitration-eligible, which means the Penguins have taken the first step to keep control of his rights while deciding whether he is a bottom-six fit or more of a depth option they can plug in as needed. That answer will matter quickly, because the roster move was made with little time to spare and with the Penguins still weighing how much value they want from a player whose game is built on defense rather than scoring.
